Daily Grind

I've found that living abroad people always think you're doing wild, crazy and fabulous things. I even assume this about others (I'm looking at you Jade and Toby). I assume this even though I know that while living abroad sounds exotic, the truth is you're just living your day to day life as you would anywhere. A friend recently equated it to being on a roller-coaster where all the highs and lows of your normal life are strangely magnified. 

So in an effort to dispel you of the notion that we're constantly hanging out with fabulous foreigners, in exotic Czech bars drinking strange Czech beers and eating foreign delicacies, I give you a typical day in photo format.

I start my morning by getting up, rubbing sleep from my eyes and jumping in the shower

Kept Man in the meantime gets up and makes me a breakfast of oatmeal and bananas

Doesn't he look happy to be awake with me in the morning?

I make a coat selection

And bundle myself up

I walk out of our apartment building

And walk towards Andel

I ride the tram to Hellichova where I get off

And walk towards the back work entrance. The building in blue is a school. I grumble about all those damn whippersnappers take up space on the morning tram as I walk by

And I make the final turn to enter the hotel

And then I'm in the office

At my desk

working. with no window. sigh. fun times

And after crunching some numbers I leave the hotel once evening rolls around

And walk to my tram stop

Which is in front of a church

Once I get on the tram I look out the window

To see the people, cars and

shops passing by

Then I walk towards home

enter our building

climb up to our landing

And it's slipper time!

Where the man is waiting

As is the booze

and the food....mmmm chocolate fondant

And then after catching up with Kept Man and watching a couple of shows or a movie it's off to bed and in the morning it starts all over again.  And so I leave you disillusioned of our exotic Czech Republic life but hopefully smiling over a silly video of Kept Man cooking which is the best part of my day. He might soon have a job. I might go into serious withdrawals. I suppose I will survive. Wish him good luck.

Virtual Coffee

If we were meeting for coffee today I would probably order a glass of wine as you can do that in most cafes in Prague and it's getting to be evening time here and I'm ready to relax. I'd also want to thank you for listening last week. I know I was a little down but I'm trudging along doing just fine.

This weekend was too short as I worked on Saturday. I had a lovely Sunday though. Kept Man and I tried Cafe Savoy for the first time. I enjoyed it a lot. English papers to read, great coffee and home made jams. It was yummy and relaxing. Kept Man thought it was a bit on the expensive side and mostly comprised of more well to do people but I would be happy to go back and spend another Sunday there. The rest of my Sunday was spent napping and reading. Bliss.

On the bright side of such a short weekend, I'm taking a day off tomorrow to compensate. I was itching to do something so I planned a date day for Kept Man and me. We're going for massages in the morning and dinner at SaSaZu in the evening. I've been craving SaSaZu for a few weeks. The service is mediocre but the food more than makes up for it. What we are going to do in between these two appointments I have no idea. Maybe shopping? I've been wanting new boots but apparently the spring collections are in the stores now and no boots are to be had. sigh. I miss internet shopping. It is so much more convienent to have things show up at your door then plow through stores.

In other news it has turned very cold here the last few days. I miss the temperate California climate and am extremely looking forward to spring. When we first moved into our apartment we were just moving into winter and I was looking forward to hibernating, but the last few weeks I've been feeling restless and I'm looking forward to warmer weather so that Kept Man and I can go on some adventures. We may fit in one ski weekend before winter is officially over. Course I don't ski, but I'll try.

If we were really meeting for coffee I would be sure to tell you about this new website I heard about from my friend Michele that uses the new Kindle Lending feature so that you can borrow books from other Kindle owners. It's called Booklending.com and it is pretty awesome. I've already loaned some of my books and am looking forward to trying to borrow someone else's book after I finish my current reading material. They only negative thing is that the publishers decide if the book is lendable or not and of course many of the books I would like to "borrow" are not available for lending. I wish the book publishers would wake up and realize they are only hurting themselves by limiting the options for e-books. It's especially a hot topic with me since I am living outside of the United States and the main way I get my books now is electronically.

And then I would stop ranting about publishers and their e-book policies and ask how your week was and what is new with you. Once we were all caught up I would finish my glass and get ready to leave. It's the end of my day and I'm looking forward to heading home and sleeping in tomorrow.

Thanks for joining me for coffee this week and I'm looking forward to seeing you next week!

For those who were a wee bit upset

...that I did not post pictures of my hair last night I give you the following. Really you can't tell how it looks. And really it's the same as you remember. I did not go off the reservation here people. But the continuous shots were kinda fun to do anyways.

 

Did I mention that I'm not very inventive at making funny faces? Where is Kept Man when I need him?

Virtual Coffee

I've been inspired by Jade's 'virtual coffee' posts as a way to keep all you readers updated on what is going on without feeling like I have to come up with some interesting, inspired topic in order to impart with you what life here in Prague is like.

So....

If we were meeting for coffee today I would give you a big hug as real homesickness has set in. It's taken a while, but I think that is because it is only really since October that I have felt settled and secure. Before that it was hotel living and uncertainty with the thought that everything was about to blow up in our faces and we would be back State side any minute. Since October Kept Man and I have found a home, received our things and settled into domestic bliss. But now with normal day to day practicalities  I realize how much I miss my family and friends in California (and elsewhere). On top of that since October I have been trying to figure out a way to get my furballs to Prague from San Francisco. Coming home to the furballs is part of what makes a home for me and being settled and not having them around has hurt my heart. A Lot. But this past weekend I finally decided it was better to leave them where they are. We don't really know how long we'll stay in Prague and moving them multiple times across the world doesn't seem fair. I'm glad I finally made a decision even if it wasn't what I was hoping for.

And if we were really meeting for coffee I would change the subject because that was all way too depressing and tell you about the gift I got Kept Man for Valentine's Day. I had one of the pictures he took when he was on the coast of Morocco printed onto canvas.

It looks gorgeous blown up and I'm excited at the possibility of taking other photos from our journeys this past year and having them printed on canvas for the big white walls in our apartment. I would also mention how proud I am of having managed to get the photo printed and pick it up all by myself. I find myself very timid in Czech Republic as I feel bad for not speaking Czech and hate feeling stupid, but as someone said to me if you let that stop you, you'll never do anything.

I'm sure I'd also mention that the whole feeling uncomfortable thing and not doing things because of it is a bit of a theme for me (why I moved to a foreign country I do not know) and my hair has paid the price for it. After 5 months this non Czech speaking girl was finally able to make it to a hair dresser today to get a very badly needed trim. A good recommendation found me at a high end salon where they do speak English and charge a premium for it. But after cursing my hair the past month and contemplating just being done with it and just chopping it all off with my kitchen shears it was all worth it.

I'd also be sure to tell you how excited I am about the camping trip that Kept Man and I are planning for this summer. We originally had hoped to go to Greece but when budgets and ideals did not co-exist we rethought things and decided on camping through Italy. In the last two weeks we managed to buy a used tent, one gas burner stove, two camp chair (one broke - at least it was only $2.50), air mattress pump and extra sleeping bag.

We also just received a camping book in the mail today from Amazon and I'm looking forward to heading to bed to read about some different Italian regions - read food.

And now my caffine rush has worn off and with Prague reaching the end of its day, it's time for bed. Thanks for listening to me today and I'm looking forward to sharing coffee with you next week!

The Original Jack Bauer Power Hour

Kept Man hates the tv show 24. He refused to watch it with me. Which was fine. It is stupid. But I enjoyed it for the stupid fact that the Jack Bauer no matter how badly abused by the governement always finished his mission. No matter what the cost. I'm not saying these costs are ok. It was just fun to watch him play it all out.

I also just love saying Jack Bauer Power Hour. That is the bigger joy really. Seriously try it. Totally fun to say.

Kept Man and I watched Rambo, or excuse me, First Blood, for the first time a few weeks ago. My first reaction? Rambo is the original Jack Bauer. He can't loose and he's horribly abused by unfeeling government officials and he's willing to do whatever it takes. A Jack Bauer prototype if you will.

My second reaction to watching the Rambo movies in general. "Where is the rocket launcher? There's got to be a rocket launcher!"

I understand Tropical Thunder much better now.